Source: India Today (http://bit.ly/4lbH7Yd)

Under the updated rules, all property records will go digital, allowing buyers to access title deeds, ownership details linked to Aadhaar, and any bank loans or dues on the property.

If you own property in India, whether you live here or abroad, there’s a big change coming that you shouldn’t ignore. A new law is on the way that could completely change how properties are registered and verified in the country. Under the updated rules, all property records will go digital, allowing buyers to access title deeds, ownership details linked to Aadhaar, and any bank loans or dues on the property.

Investment banker Sarthak Ahuja recently posted on LinkedIn to caution people about this major shift. He wrote, “If you own a property in India, you can’t miss this because you’ll need to do this asapThe government has taken a huge step and changed a 100 year old law… because of which a lot of real estate frauds will be avoided…”

He added, “So far, the biggest fraud in real estate would be when someone who is not a rightful owner would sell the property… and the buyer would after having paid the money realise that they lost their money and the rightful owner was someone else. This is most common with NRIs – where the owners are not present locally… and would realise months or years later when they come to India.”

Sarthak Ahuja believes the new law will be a game-changer in curbing property-related frauds.

Under the updated rules, all property records will go digital, allowing buyers to access title deeds, ownership details linked to Aadhaar, and any bank loans or dues on the property.

Agreements to Sell, and Builder Agreements must now be registered online, and even properties purchased earlier via Power of Attorney documents must be uploaded. With real-time access to all these details, buyers no longer need to rely on brokers or visit offices for information.

TIME TO FIX PAPERWORK

Ahuja says property owners should use this time to sort out any issues in their documents—mismatched names, wrong addresses, outdated bills or old paperwork. These small errors could create big problems once the system goes live.

He advised, “This is the time when if you have to correct names on properties, fix known issues in utility bills etc. done, because you would want to get your paperwork in order so that there are no mismatches in data across your documents which will create a problem for you in online registration.”

In other words, India’s real estate system is finally entering the digital age, and that means less room for mistakes or fraud.